A few of my favorite things...

 This weekend I got to experience a few of my favorite things...babies, coffee and a good cooking demonstration. Just call me Julie Andrews-the hills of Haiti are alive! I've been planning a time where I could learn how coffee is made beginning to end. A grandma of two of my students offered to show me. When I showed up she had a demo area set up: at that moment, I knew I was in for a great day. Before she started the coffee, she made me warm milk (boiled with salt and cinnamon) and we all drank milk and ate bread for breakfast. Making coffee is a long process and took almost a WHOLE day. Here is the recap.

 

 Unroasted coffee beans are placed in a small cooking stove used here in Haiti. Charcoal made of wood is placed in the stove, lit and provides heat for cooking. At some points it had to be re-lit and it needed to be fanned periodically.

 The coffee beans are stired continually until they are roasted (totally black). We all took turns stiring. It takes quite a bit of time! This is Alexandra, a first grade student, and granddaughter of "the coffee lady".

Remember that post I made about the burn pile that is our neighbor's home? I will no longer complain about smoke. Cooking this way can be very smoky.

 A spoonful of roasted beans.

 

 The beans are removed and serum is heated. Serum is a syrup made from sugar cane that tastes like honey. It gives flavor to the beans. 

 After the serum has boiled (for a LONG time), the beans are mixed in the pot. Then the coated beans are placed in the sun to dry. In between steps, there was a lot of time to wait. We talked. I enjoyed one year old Shadrach who was scared to death of me.

Hair was braided. This is three year old Esther trying to do her own hair. What three year old doesn't want to do it all by themselves?

 

Alexander (another first grade student and twin brother of Alexandra) drew pictures on the cement wall of his house with burned charcoal as "chalk".

 After the beans dried, a son and friend used a giant mortar and pestle called a pilon to grind the coffee. This is hard work! With two young men working, they got into a rhythm of "mashing" the beans. I learned that there is a technique, some people are better mashers than others, and it causes one to sweat.

Even my students' father took a turn while holding his son (Shadrach).

 When the beans are ground, they are sifted "until it is as fine as flour". If there are bigger pieces, they are put back into the pilon and ground again. The cycle continues.

 The ground coffee is put in a fabric bag and placed in boiling water on the same stove. 

Here is the finished product! Note the ziploc. Containers are a big deal here. It is a well know practice (I'll thank my three years of living here) to bring your own container. I heard them talking about how they didn't have anything to put the coffee in and I was proud of my pre-thought to pack ziplocs. 

By this time it was 2:00pm : Haiti's eating time! Alexander and Alexandra's mother had been preparing food all day too. I got to eat with their family: rice and beans, fried plantain, tomato/basil/onion salad...and on my plate: chicken. Every adult in the family got chicken! Chicken = meat. Meat = big deal. My cup runneth over. 

Here is a picture of the new baby (in the aforementioned list of my favorite things). Another visit I squeezed in this weekend. Her name is Roodjina Tina, sister of Rood Kenly (my student), Rood Kendy (in Kindergarten) and Kenderly (3). 

 

Happy Leap Year!

Happy Leap Day/Year!

A fellow missionary's mom, Candi Durbin (who served at Sonlight for 5 years) is here for three weeks. She's a regular Martha Stewart (or is it Stuart)...and she can pull off the most amazing things with limited resources. This week we're studying caterpillars and butterflies. Check out what she made my class. 

 Reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

 

Camp Puricelli

My house is filled with smoke. I don't know whether to run for a hose or weiner sticks. Somebody break out the bug spray because it's all we're missing here at Camp Puricelli. 

The backstory: Haiti is a "pay as you go" nation. You want to live in a world with no credit cards? Just know it means your house will be filled with smoke. People buy food-when they have money. They buy new [used] shoes-when they have money. They pay for their kids' school bills-when they have money. And, they work on home improvements-when they have money. 

The house next door to us is a skeleton. As I sit on our 2nd story porch looking down on this house which has no roof, I like to pretend that I know what room will one day be a living room and what rooms will be bedrooms. When we first moved here, the entire floor was filled with trash. Now, the trash is so high that it reaches the half-built privacy wall that surrounds the house. The pigs, goats, chickens and dogs graze on the trash and passers by might pick up plastic bottles for storing or selling kerosene gas for lamps used as lighting here. 

There is no trash service here. People throw their trash in unfinished homes until the homeowners can afford to build again and then it becomes their responsibility to move the trash to the next place. About every other week, our neighbor decides to "burn off" the trash heap. Tonight is one of those nights. It's a good thing I grew up with a father who enjoys a good burning. 

Kumbaya, ya'll. 

Long Jump

It was the first day back from a week-long Mardi Gras break. Everyone was just a tad more calm and spoke a tad more Kreyol, but by the end of the day we were all back in the groove. We have a group here from Mt. Sterling, Illinois. It's nice to hear another central Illinois accent. Today my students reinforced "math measurements" with the long jump. Armani was our class leader at 6 feet, 2 inches! Happy Monday! (Pictured: Biana jumping and counting)

The Big City

This week we have no school for Mardi Gras. It is the only true break we get here, that schools in the States don't get. While you're thinking of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (and some Haitians celebrate Fat Tuesday before Lent with parades minus that which warrants bead-tossing), the holiday here has deep meaning for those who worship with voodoo. Almost every institution in Haiti observes Mardi Gras. I tagged along on a side trip to Port Au Prince (the big city) as Brooke (fellow missionary) and her mother (midwife in training) toured a ministry with a birthing center. Another fellow missionary, Susan tagged along with me for a two and a half day getaway.

Our first stop was Karibe Hotel for one day/night. We were told there was a pool and American food. I've seen hotel pools that were not filled with water. I've eaten not-so-American food. But Karibe was different. It felt like a little microcosm of the world. UN workers were swimming on a day off. Foreign film crews, journalists, psycologists and even a fellow American commisioned by the First Lady to reconstruct the palace were there. Here is a view of the hotel courtyard.

And me with an afternoon cappuccino. YES! They had cappuccino.

A picture of Susan, Brooke and me by the fountain at the front entrance. (Taken by our Haitian taxi driver. Check out Brooke, she's been in Haiti long enough to "just keep posing"....you never know what you're going to get with a random photographer.)

It was hard to believe that something so lavish (it would seem normal in the States) could be three blocks away from tent cities. The paradox had us baffled and still does.

The next day we traveled to Heartline Ministries. What an amazing ministry...and a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher's dream! Heartline is one mission that has several "ministry fields". We stayed at their guesthouse, which I highly recommend if you're looking for a place to stay while in Port Au Prince. It was evident that every missionary at Heartline was committed and energetic about their work!

Our first stop was the Harbor House, a home for teen parents. One of the residents came to Heartline pregnant and with a broken back, an injury she sustained during the earthquake. She was demobilized until the healthy delivery of her baby boy and then had a successful surgery. What a miracle! And, she truly has no family living other than Heartline. When you start to feel bad for yourself, remember her.

The teen mom pictured is not the same one I mentioned above.

The Harbor House moms have a cleaning and cooking schedule and are physically and spiritually nurtured by missionaries. What a ministry. They also have a chicken coop, tilapia pond, which waters/fertilizes a garden all for nutrition for the girls at the house.

The next stop was Haitian Creations. We are pictured here with Allison Jennings, the missionary in charge of this area and a child from the Harbor House along for the tour.

Here there is a cooking school, sewing classes and beading/jewelry classes. Not only do they train women, they offer them jobs to sew purses and make jewelry for Heartline. Their creations are sold on site and online. People in the US even have purse parties/jewelry parties and sell their creations. We chose some purses to sell in Port-de-Paix.

The cooking classroom.

The sewing classroom.

The giftshop with purses/jewelry for sale.

The next amazing part of Heartline was the women's prenatal and postnatal clinic. They provide educational workshops for pregnant and postnatal women, medical check-ups for moms and babies and at each session women are given a high protein meal. Pregnant women enrolled in the program also deliver their babies at Hearline. Any member of the community can come to a weekly family planning class.

A picture of the food preparation before the postnatal check-up/education day.

Beth (co-director of Heartline) and Melissa (midwife) in the birthing room.

It was evident during our day tour that every missionary at Heartline cares deeply about empowering Haitians and forming a relationship with them that demonstrates Christ. For more information about Heartline Ministries, visit: www.heartlineministries.org